Down & Out! Porsche Racing Shakeup
It was announced today that the man behind Porsche’s resurgence in Motorsport will be leaving this year. Vice President of Motorsport Hartmut Kristen will be stepping down from his position and allowing Dr. Frank-Steffen Walliser to take over.
Kristen was the man that devised bringing about the new 911 RSR’s, the 911 GT3 hybrids, and the RS Spyder. He also had the main hand in cultivating the most extensive driver development platform in Porsche history.
Walliser in his own right is no slouch when it comes to racing or engineering. Previously Walliser was the head of the 918 Spyder project, and was the general manager for motorsport strategies.
He will still be the lead engineer of the 918 Spyder, assisting in future iterations of the hybrid hypercar, but will devote most of his time to advancing Porsche’s chances in winning races.
While he won’t be taking over the LMP1 team, which will remain in the capable hands of Fritz Enzinger, Walliser will take over the GT unit which includes the 911 RSR teams and some of Porsche’s other race cars like the GT3.
Both Walliser and Kristen are titans in the motorsport realm, and they have one of the winning-est nameplates in the history of motorsport.
While Kristen will no longer be the head of the department, he will still advise Porsche’s R&D, which is a savvy move by Porsche to keep around one of their top men, and keeping him out of the hands of other teams. Much like how Red Bull kept Adrian Newey away from Ferrari.
Walliser has some big shoes to fill, with Kristen leading to a double class victory at this year’s LeMans with the RSRs. But the man behind Porsche’s 918 project is most likely up to the task. We will soon find out because effective October 1st, Walliser will be the new head preparing for next season.
Photo’s via Porsche